The present disclosure relates to a sensor pad, in particular, a pad for detecting when an individual exits a chair or a bed.
A serious problem encountered by operators of hospitals, nursing homes, retirement centers, and other facilities that care for patients with limited mobility is that patients who leave their beds without assistance may subsequently trip or fall. Patients that are heavily medicated or sedated are particularly susceptible to falls. For these reasons, much consideration has been given to systems for monitoring patients and providing a warning that a patient is rising from or has left his or her bed.
One type of patient monitoring system includes a sensor pad positionable on a mattress of a bed or seat of a chair. The sensor pad is communicatively coupled to a monitoring device, such as a nurse call system. When pressure on the sensor pad is removed, such as when the patient removes himself or herself from the bed or chair, the sensor pad sends a notification to the monitoring device which provides a notification to a caregiver that the patient is no longer in bed or seated in the chair.
Currently, most of the sensor pads used in patient beds wear out over time and must be replaced before the sensor pads completely fail. However, the ability to precisely predict the lifetime of sensor pads is elusive. Factors such as the frequency of use, the weight of the patient on the sensor pad, and the amount of movement of the patient are variables that affect the speed with which a sensor pad wears out. Failure due to wear or other factors, including dampness in the sensor pad, can cause the sensor pad to indicate that a patient is in bed or in a chair when the patient has in fact gotten up, and as a result, the caregiver is not aware of the patient's change in location.